Longevity - cumulative nutrition or daily effects?

I was reading about how beets lower blood pressure and it got me thinking. If a person who would have had high blood pressure grows up eating beets daily, he may never suffer the problem. Another person might exist who eats whole foods and has the same condition (say it's genetic, not environmental, etc.) and gets all his micronutrient needs met, but simply misses out on beets, ends up with high blood pressure and dies early in spite of eating well.

I'm just wondering, how many of us might be clinging tightly to one food that keeps us in check without knowing it? I love my green apples for their life-extending properties, but what if they are also doing something else I am unaware of? Some other gnawing reason I simply MUST have them?

Clearly it's ridiculous to suggest that any given food will benefit an entire population, but there must be some regional genepools that have come to rely on local vegetation, right? Did my ancestors grow up in apple forests and develop a physiological trait that meant apples need to be consumed regularly?

It's easy to get caught up in the supplement game this way, too. I was reading up on Resveratrol a couple years ago and thought that was the missing link and everyone needs to be getting it. I took Resvertrol pills faithfully for a long time, then ran out and never got any more. Now, I get my resveratrol from dark chocolate and wine every now and then.

Like Paleobird, I think variety is the key. Good meat, fish & eggs and all sorts of different types of plants, fruits, nuts, roots and tubers that will make up a well rounded diet. Not only that, just think of all those delicious different tastes!

Why use a sledge hammer to crack a nut when a steam roller is even more effective, and, is fun to drive.